Power,Persuasion, and Influence

Traditional political power is one of the few mechanisms available for aligning an organization with its own reality

Institutionalized forms of power tend to buffer the organization from reality and obscure the demands of its environment

Organizational power is the ability to get things done the way one wants them to be done

Where does organizational power come from?◦ Subunits most able to cope with the

organization’s critical problems and uncertainties acquire power

◦ The strategic-contingencies theory - when an organization faces threats, the subunit most in control of these threats will gain power and influence

Important Distinctions◦ Power is the capacity to produce effects on others

or the potential to influence. Influence is the degree of change in a target person’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors. Influence tactics are actual behaviors manifested by one person to influence another.

Important Distinctions◦ Therefore, leadership is simply an attempt to

influence, while power is well described as a leader’s influence potential.

◦ It is the resource that enables a leader to induce compliance from or influence others.

The term power seems to have a negative connotation (note previous slide “to induce compliance”), but power is only negative when it is abusively used.◦ To be influential, leaders must exercise

POWER!!!!

Sources of PowerSources of Power

Legitimate power

Reward power

Coercive power

Expert power

Referent power

Legitimate- authority associated with a position

Coercive- ability to punish or control ◦ Followers react out of fear

Reward- ability to give positive benefits◦ Provide anything that another person values

Expert- influence based on special skills or knowledge

Referent- arises because of a person’s desirable resources or personal traits◦ Leads to admiration and desire to be like that

person

Information power- based on the leader’s possession of or access to information perceived as valuable by others (Raven & Kruglanski)

Connection power- based on the leader's connection with influential or important persons inside or outside the organization (Hershey & Goldsmith)

Potential Reactions to Potential Reactions to Sources of PowerSources of Power

Coercive Power

Reward Power

Legitimate Power

Expert Power

Referent Power

Resistance

Compliance

Commitment

The single factor of whether or not a group is facing a crisis might affect the leader’s exercise of power simply because leaders usually can exert more power during crisis than during periods of relative calm.

During crisis followers are more eager to receive direction and control from leaders.

Findings indicate that leaders who relied primarily on referent and expert power had subordinates who were more motivated and satisfied, were absent less, and performed better.

Effective leaders typically take advantage of all their sources of power.

Whereas leaders in well-functioning organizations have strong influence over their subordinates, they are also open to being influenced by them.

Leaders vary in the extent to which they share power with subordinates.

Effective leaders generally work to increase their various power bases or become more willing to use their coercive power.

People vary in their motivation to influence or control others.

Two different ways of expressing the need for power:◦ Personalized power◦ Socialized power

The need for power has been found to be positively related to various leadership effectiveness criteria.

Leaders who are relatively uninhibited in their personal need for power will use power impulsively, to manipulate or control others, or to achieve at another’s expense.

Leaders with a high need for power but low activity inhibition may be successful in the short term, but their followers, as well as the remainder of the organization, may pay high costs for this success.

Is there a best type of power? Is power an eroding concept in 21st

century leadership? How much power should leaders have? How do leaders lose power? Can a leader occupy a top-level position

and still have relatively little power? What’s the relationship between power

and politics?

Social Exchange Theory – Power based on exchange of benefits or favors◦ Acquired

Control over scarce resources Access to vital information Skill in dealing with critical problems Accumulated idiosyncratic credits Innovative proposals

◦ Lost Pursuing selfish motives Innovation (if lead to failure) How serious the failure is Amount of status

Power is shared more out of necessity than out of concern for principles of organizational development or participative democracy◦ no one person controls all the desired activities

in the organization An individual’s or subgroup’s power is

never absolute and derives ultimately from the context of the situation

In most societies, power is distributed around scarce and critical resources

Prudent and judicious persons are not likely to use their power needlessly or wastefully

Three conditions affect the use of power in organizations:

Criticality

Scarcity

Uncertainty

Informal approaches to gaining power through means other than merit or luck

Display loyalty Manage your impression Ask satisfied customers to contact your

boss Be courteous, pleasant, and positive Ask advice Send thank-you notes to large numbers of

people Flatter others sensibly

Criticizing the boss in a public forum Bypassing the boss Declining an offer from top management Putting your foot in your mouth Not conforming to the company dress code

Backstabbing Embrace or demolish Setting a person up for failure Divide and rule Playing territorial games Creating and then resolving a false

catastrophe

Be aware of its causes and techniques Avoid favoritism Set good examples at the top of the

organization Encourage goal congruence Threaten to discuss questionable

information in a public forum Hire people with integrity

Implications depend largely on whether one wants to increase one’s power, decrease the power of others, or maintain one’s position

To understand power in an organization, one must begin by looking outside it – into the environment

The real trick to managing power in organizations is to ensure that leaders:◦ Be aware of the realities of their environments◦ Can change to deal with those realities

… refers to passing decision-making authority and responsibility from managers to group members. Almost any form of participative management, shared decision making, and delegation can be regarded as empowerment.

Leadership Factors in Leadership Factors in EmpowermentEmpowerment

Create a positive emotional atmosphere

Set high performance standards

Encourage initiative and responsibility

Reward openly and personally

Practice equity and collaboration

Express appropriate confidence in subordinates

Organizational Factors in Organizational Factors in EmpowermentEmpowerment

Decentralize structureDecentralize structure Select and train leaders Select and train leaders

appropriatelyappropriately Select and train employees Select and train employees

appropriatelyappropriately Remove bureaucratic constraintsRemove bureaucratic constraints Reward empowering behaviors Reward empowering behaviors Create fair and open organization Create fair and open organization

policiespolicies

A leader’s strength of ownership power depends on◦ how closely the leader is linked to shareholders

and board members◦ how much money he or she has invested in the

firm

An organization requires a continuing flow of human resources, money, customers and clients, technological inputs, and materials to continue to function

Organizational subunits or individuals who can provide these key resources accrue power

Whereas power is the potential to influence others, influence tactics are the actual behaviors used by an agent to change the attitudes, opinions, or behaviors of a target person.

IBQ

Rational persuasio

nInspirational

appeals

Consultation

Ingratiation

Personal appeals

ExchangeCoalition tactics

Pressure tactics

Legitimizing tactics

Rational persuasion Inspirational appeals Consultation Ingratiation Personal Appeals

Exchange Coalition tactics Pressure tactics Legitimizing tactics

Rational persuasion involves the use of logical arguments and factual information to convince a target that the agent’s request or proposal is feasible and consistent with shared objectives.

Rational persuasion is used more in an upward direction than in a downward or lateral direction.

Inspirational appeal uses the target’s values, ideals, aspirations, and emotions as a basis for gaining commitment to a request or proposal.

This tactic is especially appropriate for gaining the commitment of someone to work on a new task or project

Inspirational appeals are used more in a downward direction than in a lateral or upward direction.

When people gain a sense of ownership of a project, they are likely to be more committed to making the project successful

Consultation is used more in a downward direction than in a lateral or upward direction,

The basis for ingratiation is an increase in the target’s feeling of positive regard toward the agent.

Flattery, praise, expression of acceptance, and expression of agreement are used to increase the agent’s attractiveness to the target.

Ingratiation is used more in a downward and lateral direction than in an upward direction.

Exchange tactics involve explicit or implicit offers by an agent to provide a favor or benefit to the target in return for doing what the agent requests.

Exchange is used more in a downward and lateral direction than in an upward direction.

Personal appeals are based on referent power already possessed by the agent.◦ When a target has strong feelings of friendship

toward the agent, it is more likely that the agent can appeal successfully to the target to do something.

Personal appeals are used more in a lateral direction than in a downward or upward direction.

With coalition tactics, an agent enlists the aid or endorsement of other people to influence a target to do what the agent wants.

Coalitions are used most often as a follow-up tactic after the target has already resisted a direct influence attempt by the agent.

Coalition tactics are used more in a lateral and upward direction than in a downward direction.

Legitimizing tactics involve efforts to verify the legitimacy of a request and the agent’s authority or right to make it

This tactic is most appropriate for a request that is unusual and of doubtful legitimacy to the target person

Legitimizing tactics are used more in a downward and lateral direction than in an upward direction.

Pressure tactics involve the use of a manager’s coercive power, which is greater in relation to subordinates than in relation to peers or superiors

Pressure tactics are used more in a downward direction than in a lateral or upward direction.

Type(s) of power possessed by leader determines type(s) of influence tactics used with followers. Leaders with referent power have the widest range of influence tactics available. Leaders tend to use “hard” tactics when they have an advantage over the follower(s) and “soft” tactics when they are at a disadvantage.

Leaders should be conscious of the tactics they use, the typical effects of each, and why they are employing particular tactics.

Effective leaders typically take advantage of all their sources of power.

Whereas leaders in well-functioning organizations have strong influence over their subordinates, they are also open to being influenced by them.

Leaders vary in the extent to which they share power with subordinates.

Effective leaders generally work to increase their various power bases or become more willing to use their coercive power.

People typically use hard tactics when:◦ An influencer has the upper hand.◦ Someone anticipates resistance.◦ The other person’s behavior violates important norms.

People typically use soft tactics when:◦ They are at a disadvantage.◦ They expect resistance.◦ They will personally benefit if the attempt is successful.

People typically use rational tactics when:◦ Parties are relatively equal in power.◦ Resistance is not anticipated.◦ The benefits are organizational as well as personal.

Research indicates that some reasons for selecting among various possible influence tactics lead to successful outcomes more frequently than others.

Results suggest that leaders should pay attention not only to the actual influence tactics they use but also to why they believe such methods are called for.

Influence efforts intended to build others up more frequently lead to positive outcomes than influence efforts intended to put others down.

By reflecting on their different bases of power, leaders may better understand how they can affect followers and even expand their power.

Leaders can improve their effectiveness by finding ways to enhance their idiosyncratic credit and not permitting in-group and out-group rivalries to develop in the work unit.

The exercise of power occurs primarily through the influence tactics leaders and followers use to modify the attitudes and behaviors of each other.

Leadership practitioners should always consider why they are using a particular influence attempt before they actually use it.